The quake occurred at 3:48 p.m. local time (1448 GMT) with its epicenter at a depth of around 15 km in northern Italy city Lucca, in central Tuscany region, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

"A quake at a depth of 15 km is not expected to create big damage, but it was certainly felt across a large area," an INGV expert, Alberto Michelini, was quoted as saying by Sky television.

The shock triggered panic in the central and northern regions of Emilia Romagna and Lombardy, where a number of people run to the streets and phoned police, according to media reports.

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